


Laurens Is GAY

by Gay_ass_spork



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gay John Laurens, I don't want else to tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 08:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12553768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gay_ass_spork/pseuds/Gay_ass_spork
Summary: Wikipedia John Laurens.





	Laurens Is GAY

From a young age, Laurens apparently exhibited a lack of interest in women. When Laurens was an adolescent, Henry Laurens wrote to his friend James Grant about John’s disinterest in girls, stating, "Master Jack is too closely wedded to his studies to think about any of the Miss Nanny’s I would not have such a sound in his Ear, for a Crown; why drive the poor Dog, to what Nature will irresistibly prompt him to be plagued with in all probability much too soon.” As Laurens matured, his closest relationships were formed with those of the same gender; Laurens biographer Gregory D. Massey states that he "reserved his primary emotional commitments for other men." Though he eventually married, it was a union born out of regret. While in London for his studies, Laurens impregnated Martha Manning and married her to preserve the legitimacy of their child. Laurens wrote to this uncle, "Pity has obliged me to marry."  
While in Washington's camp, Laurens met and became extremely close friends with Alexander Hamilton. They exchanged several letters after their different assignments and Laurens' long captivity in British hands separated them. In one of his letters prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Schuyler, Hamilton wrote to Laurens to reassure him that their friendship would not be diminished. Hamilton then went on to invite Laurens to be present for "the final consummation" of his courtship, that is his wedding planned for the Fall on December 14, 1780, which Laurens could not attend since he had been appointed minister to France by Congress after being released from British captivity in November 1780.  
While emotional language was not uncommon among those of the same gender in this historical period, Hamilton biographer James Thomas Flexner states that the intensely expressive language contained in the Hamilton-Laurens letters "raises questions concerning homosexuality" that "cannot be categorically answered"  
Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow notes that sodomy was a capital offense throughout the colonies at the time, so if they did have a relationship, they would have had to have exercised overwhelming caution; he concludes that while no relationship can be conclusively proven, he is led to believe that Hamilton had "at the very least" an "adolescent crush" on Laurens. Chernow also states that "Hamilton did not form friendships easily and never again revealed his interior life to another man as he had to Laurens. [...] After the death of John Laurens, Hamilton shut off some compartment of his emotions and never reopened it." Laurens' letters to Hamilton were noted to be less frequent and, in comparison to Hamilton's, less passionate, but some letters written by Laurens may have been lost or destroyed.


End file.
